Memories over Several Decades on Two Wheels

I have lots of positive memories, and a few not so wonderful, of the many bikes I’ve owned and journeys made over the past several decades.

Me (right) with my sister and Granddad Conway

This a photo of me around 1957 with my Granddad Conway and my oldest sister. I was too young to remember this tricycle, but apparently I was telling my granddad to get his hand off my handlebar!

I lived in the Black Country in a working class family until I was about ten years old. We were always short of money for anything other than the basics like most families in our neighbourhood. Being able to afford to buy a bike was often quite challenging. My dad at the time was a binman and would occasionally find something worth bringing home. My most vivid memory was the bike he managed to salvage on his round that I was given as a gift when I was still in primary school. The fact that it had no brakes at all didn’t deter me from hurtling joyfully around the playground sandwiched between the high rise flats on the council estate opposite our house.

In order to graduate to a bike that I could actually stop safely I had to earn money myself to buy one. With money I earned from a paper round and delivering football pools I managed to buy a brand new Claud Butler bike. It was my pride and joy! I used it to ride to school (there were nowhere near as many cars on the road in those days) and also to test out my scrambling skills on abandoned industrial site tracks.

I then took that bike with me to North Devon when my family moved there when I was 12. I have the most wonderful memories of riding along narrow country lanes to the coast with friends, and also delivering newspapers before I went to school in the mornings.

One memory I have is having to share a bike on a journey with a friend. We took turns in either riding the bike or jogging relay style there and back. I have to confess as a teenager I had one or two self-inflicted minor accidents that dented my pride more than my thick skull. I don’t recall any opportunities to go on bike safety courses in those days. It’s good that those courses are now available. 

Photo credit: betterbybike.info

My next bike was similar to this one in this picture. Again money was tight and I picked this one up for a few pounds, as it was so ancient. I used it every day to ride several miles to college to study for my A levels. I couldn’t afford the bus fare to college, so this battered old bike was a massive help.

My next memory was exploring all over Kyoto in Japan where I worked as an English teacher with the British Council in the 1980s. The strangest memory I have is being stopped by the police as I was riding my bike on the road and being told to ride on the pavement as it was too dangerous to cycle with so much traffic on the road. How different from my childhood where the British police would tell me off for riding my bike on the pavement! I remember some years later cycling to work at a Japanese university every day mostly along a beautiful quiet river, when a colleague who lived much closer would drive to work. I’m sure he thought I was odd, but I felt invigorated and uplifted at the start of the day with none of the frustration and stress of driving a car to work. 

I also lived in Edinburgh in order to study and work. I cycled most days all year round to work from the suburbs into the city centre. It was quite a challenge to ride into the howling North Sea wind on the way to work, but much easier riding home with the wind propelling me forward with ease. As you can imagine the weather could be pretty inclement in the winter especially. But as the Swedish say, there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

Throughout much of my career as a TEFL teacher I’ve always tried to live within walking or cycling distance of where I worked. Unfortunately when I first returned to work in the UK, I commuted by car from Worcester to Dudley for over five years. I hated it, except for the opportunity to listen to Classic FM on the radio. Luckily, I got a job at The University of Worcester. I was able to either walk or cycle (again mostly along the river) from Battenhall to St John’s campus for several years. I remember the secretary in our department confessing several years later that she was sure I’d quit after a few weeks and drive to work instead.

The bike I used was an old second hand Raleigh bike that I bought cheaply from a now defunct charity that had a base at the university for staff and students. I rode it for a decade with regular repairs until COVID, when spare parts were unavailable. The only bike that was available was a new Claud Butler. I had gone full circle from the first bike of the same brand that I had bought as a young teenager!

Writing this blog has brought back a flood of happy memories of so many positive experiences over many decades with the wind in my (now almost non-existent) hair, the sun on my face and a feeling of exhilaration and joy as I’ve pedalled my way through life.